African Tax Administration Forum Agreement in place

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Announcement

Topics Government, Politics & Policy | Tax Law

30 Sep 2022

The African Tax Administration Forum Agreement on Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters (“the Agreement”) is in place.

The South African Revenue Service published the agreement in Government Gazette 46959 in terms of the Income Tax Act.

The Agreement is designed to enable contracting parties to assist one another in tax matters including exchange of information in tax matters; carrying out tax examinations abroad; carrying out simultaneous tax examinations; and assisting in the collection of taxes.

The Agreement applies to all taxes on income, on capital, and to taxes on goods and services imposed by or on behalf of the contracting parties.

It came into force in the Republic of South Africa on 23 September 2017.

Meanwhile, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has launched a seminal discussion paper on unclaimed assets that have accumulated to almost R90 billion across the financial sector, with the majority in retirement funds.

In a statement, the FSCA pointed out that the discussion paper builds on work done by the FSCA and national treasury to “find a solution that will lead to increased disbursements of unclaimed assets to beneficial owners”.

According to the FSCA Commissioner, Unathi Kamlana, work is continuing to “establish the true value of unclaimed assets in the sector, given that these assets are held by various financial institutions, and not only by retirement funds”.

He added that a big obstacle to disbursing the funds is the lack of a common understanding of what constitutes dormant or unclaimed assets, and the lack of reliable data.

The FSCA proposes 13 recommendations to facilitate a holistic and consistent approach to how lost accounts and unclaimed assets are treated in the financial sector.